Embossing wall board



NOV. 24, v Q A. UPSON EMBOSSING WALL BOARD Filed Feb. 23, 1928 Patented Nov. 24,A 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE C A. UPSONZ 0F IDCKQPOBT, NEW YOBX, ASSIGNOR '10 THE UPSON COMPANY, 0E LOCEPOBT, NEW YORK, I CQBCPORATION OF NEW YORK mossmo 'WALL Boann Application led February 28, 1928. Serial No. 256,348.

My present invention relates to the manufacture of wallboard and similar material' as used in building construction, and for decorative purposes. More particularly it relates to the manufacture of a wallboard of this character that is of substantial thickness, and is made up of a body or core of one material and facings or liners as they are called of another material applied to one or both faces of the core. The invention has for its principal object to provide a simple, convenlent and effective method of producing such a wall board with an embossed face or outer surface carrying a selected design, as for instance, an imitiation of brick work or tiling. The invention contemplates the process applicable where the nature of the board to be produced is such that it works against ordinary embossing methods, either because the latter would impair the texture of the board, or would be ineffective t`o produce' the clear and satisfactory embossing effect. Y

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed outin the claims at the end of the specification. Y

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side view artly in vertical section of the feed end of) a wallboard maln'ng machine of a nature adaptable to the practice of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of an embossing roll that may be used;

Figo 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section through a wallboard product made in accord'- ance with-my invention; and

Fig-4 is a plan view of the embossed facev of the product.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate the same parts.

Referring first to Fig. 3 wherein is shown a preferred construction of wallboard suitable for manufacture in accordance with myA improved method, this board indicated generally at A consists of two heavy paper liners' B and C adhesively secured to the (pposite side of an intermediatecore or bo y portion D. -By adhesively secured IKdo not 'article describe mean necessarily that a third separate adhesive element is used for, in the present instance the body is itself adhesive in character, and attaches itself tenaciously to the inner surfaces of the liners. A

It has been discovered that when a mixture of sodium silicate solution and powdered dolomite in approximate proportions of two-parts silicate to three-parts dolomite .mensurate with its stiffness. Such a body is the core D of the product herein shown.

In the manufacture of such a board the batch above described is introduced as a plastic mass between thel two paper liner Vstrips B andI C which accompany it into an intumescing chamber where, during the intumescing action the core becomes adhesively fixed to the faces of the liners forminor a homogeneous structure. This is preferazbly carried on as a continuous process as hereinafter described. It is impracticable to emboss by the ordinary method of ressure rolls the completed d) for the reason that the necessary pressure to effect a clear design 1s apt to either impair the texture of the core body D or warp and deform the board as a whole.

In the practice of my invention I avoid v these difficulties by first embossing, by means f pressure rolls or otherwise, the liner that is to become the finished face of the board by itself before associating it with the core body and companion liner. I then apply the inorganic filler in the lastic state, together with the other liner (1f used) and immediately subject this structure to the moderately v high degree ofheat aforesaid which quickly A drives oi the moisture content, the same escaping at the edges of the board. With the materials suggested this can be accomplished by a travel of from fifty to one hundred feet through heated platens at the temperature given and at the rate of twenty feet per minute. Due to the relatively small amount of moisture or water present in this inorganic core mass and the rapidity with which it is discharged, the paper liners are not impreg nated therewith, and the embossed liner C is therefore not softened sufficiently to impair the distinctness and permanency of the embossed effect. In fact, there is greater danger of overheating the paper liner to a degree that renders its surface brittle by baking out the surface fibres.

Referring again to the drawings; I have illustrated therein the general arrangement of a machine for carryingfout my method. In Fig. l, 1 indicates a suitably mounted paper supply roll on an axle 2 for furnishing the inside liner B which passes beneath a guide roll 3 and over a driven feed roll 4 beneath a hopper 5. The front or facing liner C is brought from a roll 6 on an axle 7 around guideD rolls 8 and 9 and over a driven feed roll 10 beneath the hopper 5. The feed rolls 4 and 10 are mates as shown, turning in opposite directions and bringing the liner strips into suitable parallel proximity. It is at this point that the batch 11 that is to constitute the core is introduced between them from the hopper `5. The material is then passed as a composite body A between upper heated platens 12 and lower heated platens 13 on a heating bed 14. The'platens may be suitably steam heated and are open at the sides of the machine to permit the escape of steam as aforesaid.

T he liner C may be embossed before being wound into the roll 6, but I prefer at present to emboss it after it lea-ves the roll on its way to hopper 5 containing the plastic. For this purpose I provide at this point an embossing coupleJ composed of an upper suitably drlven embossing roll 15 and a lower companion platen roll 16. A typical embossing roll is shown in Fig. 2 designed to make longitudinal and transverse scores or depressed imprints upon the face of the paper in simulation of tiling, such as is used in bath rooms and kitchens. When enameled a board so embossed and constructed as described gives a ver ture immediately to a relatively high degree of heat to drive the moisture from the filler before the liner is impregnated therewith while at the same time supporting the liner side of the structure continuously against a smooth flat surface. i

2. The method of producing embossed wallboard embodying a pair of liners of fibrous material and a dller of inorganic material between them, which comprises first embossing one of said liners along a plurality of lines at an angle to each other, applying the filler between said liners'in a plastic state and with a relatively lowmoisture content, and then subjecting the filler and-liners substantially immediately to relatively high heat to drive moisture from the ller before the embossed liner becomes impregnated with moisture and softened.

3. The method of producing embossed wallboard embodying a pair of liners of fibrous material and an intumescent filler between said liners of sodium silicate and mineral matter, which comprises first embossing CHARLES A. UPSON.

real effect in both surface appearance an stability. It is obvious that the reverse or inside liner B may be omitted.

I claim:

1. The method of producing embossed wallboard embodying a flexible liner and a body of inorganic filler adhesively attached thereto which comprises first embossing the liner on one surface only under pressure, the other surface remaining smooth, ap lying the filler to the smooth side thereof in a plastlc state and then subjecting the struc- 

